December 29, 2007 - Wisconsin cigarette tax and tax on other tobacco products to increase January 1, 2008.. The Wisconsin cigarette tax will increase from 77 cents per pack to $1.77 on New Year’s Day. It will be the 12th highest in the nation. New Jersey has the highest tax at $2.28 per pack. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau predicts Wisconsin’s cigarette tax collections will increase almost 80 percent in just three years — from $296 million in 2006 to $531 million in 2009. At the same time, the state’s Tobacco Control Resource Center estimates that 33,300 adult smokers will quit because of the tax increase, and 65,800 youths will be deterred from taking up the habit. Wisconsin has about 1 million smokers. (" Smokers consider quitting with cigarette tax about to take effect," The Associated Press, fdlreporter.com (Fond Du Lac, WI), December 28, 2007) See related news briefs: November 13, 2007, September 13, 2007 and April 1, 2007. Click on image to enlarge..

December 29, 2007 - Illinois Goes Smoke Free on January 1, 2008.. At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, Illinois will ban virtually all indoor smoking in public spaces, including bars and restaurants. Chicago restricted indoor smoking in 2005, and so far this year, the city has received only 119 smoking-related complaints, the public health department said. Under the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, just about the only places left where you can smoke indoors will be private cars and homes. Smoking will be banned in offices, factory floors, stores, private clubs, prisons, bowling alleys, dormitories, stadiums, casinos, elevators and restrooms. Smoking also will be banned within 15 feet of entrances, exits and windows. Smoking will still be allowed in private rooms in nursing homes, in up to 25 percent of hotel rooms and in tobacco shops and hookah bars that don’t serve food or alcohol. Smokers could be fined as much as $250. Businesses could be fined at least $250 for the first violation and at least $2,500 for a third violation within a year. A 2005 survey found that 72 percent of Illinois adults said smoking should be banned from work and 73 percent said it should be banned from restaurants. (" Happy New Year. Now, put out that cigarette" by JIM RITTER Health Reporter/jritter@suntimes.com, Chicago Sun-Times, December 28, 2007) See related news brief: July 25, 2007. Click on image to enlarge - image Keith Hale/Sun-Times..
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December 28, 2007 - Pipe dreams: With more hookah bars popping up, experts warn about the potential dangers of tobacco.. Many hookah (Sheesha or Shisha, Narghile, Waterpipe) fans contend that drawing smoke through water removes some of the harmful chemicals. Scientists, however, say that although the hookah might filter out some irritants, the smoke nevertheless contains high levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide and other toxic chemicals. The potential risks, of hookah smoking has taken on added relevance as hookah bars have begun to sprout up across the U.S. in recent years. There are more than 400 hookah cafes, according to an online database of hookah bars. There is a growing popularity of hookah bars, especially among 18- to 24-year-olds. Dr. David Burns, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, "and there is evidence that it contains many of the toxic constituents of tobacco. And you may get them in higher doses than you would from smoking cigarettes because of the very large volume of smoke that you ingest." Hookah sessions typically last 20 to 80 minutes, and the mildness of the smoke allows for deeper inhalations. A WHO advisory issued in 2005 reports that during one 40- to 45-minute hookah session, a smoker could, in theory, inhale the equivalent of 100 cigarettes. See related news briefs: directly below and Hookah (Shisha or Sheesha, Narghile) is Worse than Smoking Cigarettes. Click on image to enlarge - the work of Tenniel, Sir John (b. Feb. 28, 1820, London, Eng.--d. Feb. 25, 1914, London)..

December 27, 2007 - With more youngsters and women taking to sheesha (waterpipe) smoking, experts like Dr. Ahmad al-Mulla, the director of the stop smoking clinic in Doha - the capital of Qatar, warn the practice is no less harmful than cigarette smoking. The smoke that comes out of sheesha contains numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer and heart diseases, by delivering the addictive nicotine. A comment from a user: Mureno, a 22-year old student - "I am truly re-living the Arabian Nights" whose favorite tobacco flavor is 'double apple.' The tobaccos come in assorted flavors such as apple, mint, chocolate and grape. The law banning public smoking of tobacco or its derivatives was implemented in 2002 but cafes offering sheeshas did not fall under the category. According to Dr. al-Mullah the authorities are not issuing any more licenses for new cafes offering sheesha (shisha). There's a widespread notion among youngsters that the practice of sheesha smoking is relative which is NOT true. ("Sheesha as harmful as cigarette, say experts" by Sarmad Qazi, Gulf Times, 12/27/2007) See related news brief:Hookah (Shisha or Sheesha, Narghile) is Worse than Smoking Cigarettes.Read more...

December 25, 2007 - Snuff Is NOT 'Safer' Substitute For Cigarettes.. Dr. Stephen S. Hecht, an internationally recognized expert on cancer-causing agents in tobacco and the pathways by which they cause cancer, has completed a 20-year review (in the January 1, 2008 issue of American Chemical Society's Section on Chemical Research in Toxicology) off scientific research on tobacco and cancer challenges the idea that moist snuff — increasingly popular in the United States — can be a safer substitute for cigarette smoking. The paper, which covers the broad range of research on cancer induced by tobacco, points out that smokeless tobacco, a known cause of oral cancer, is contaminated with levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines that are generally 1,000 times greater than those found in any other consumer product. Despite health warning labels on packages of smokeless tobacco and a ban on electronic advertising, sales of snuff have continued to increase, the paper states. “In the past several years, a new concept has emerged,” the paper notes. “Responsible members of the tobacco control community support the idea of using ‘low nitrosamine’ moist snuff as a substitute for cigarette smoking. The rationale for this is that moist snuff is demonstrably less carcinogenic in humans, and less toxic in other ways, because it lacks the combustion products.” However, moist snuff products still contain significant levels of carcinogens, and users should stop, rather than switch from one risky product to another, the paper advises. ( "New Report Challenges Idea That Snuff Is A 'Safer' Substitute For Cigarettes," Science Daily, 12/24/2007) Dr Hecht - related news briefs: October 30, 2007, October 6, 2007 and August 10, 2007. Let's not forget the American Cancer Society study of more than 116,000 men finds that cigarette smokers who switched to spit tobacco products had a higher risk of dying prematurely from tobacco-related diseases than former smokers who stopped using all forms of tobacco.